To get really annoyed by people who live in hot countries claiming that the UK is not hot

[CheckingOutTheQuantocks]

I have some relatives who are in Australia and I'm friends with some of them on Facebook. Apart from their finding the whole Boris Johnson/Brexit thing awfully amusing, they're generally nice people, but there's one of them in particular who can't bloody leave it alone if I post anything about the weather. The other day, I posted about how it was supposed to be the hottest day on record, and she was straight onto it with comments about "That's not hot, that's like a winter temperature for us, you Poms are so soft". She thinks 18°C is "freezing", btw

I'm only mildly irritated by this, but I just don't get why people do it. I know it's ridiculously hot over there and all the wildlife is venomous and all that, but what is the actual point of telling people that all the time when they're just trying to have a whinge about being too warm?

Tell me about it op im just fed up of people saying stop moaning we hardly have a summer-i dont cope i have anxiety and it makes me irritable in the heat i just cant function-sorry to everyne who enjoys it but im a winter person layer up or take off some-you cant do anything in this

Found the article, with this quote:

It [the TUC] wants the introduction of a new maximum indoor temperature, set at 30 degrees - or 27 degrees for those doing strenuous jobs - with employers obliged to adopt cooling measures when the workplace temperature hits 24 degrees.

UK weather: Heatwave prompts calls for flexible working:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48879898

Sorry i agree theres a lower limit why not an upper one people die in the heat as much as the cold

@thedayofthethreeMagnums but we've had lots of sunny weather this year. Easter was boiling, for example, and we've had several runs of hot weather so far this year. It's been drier and warmer than average - it has not been miserable and wet! And now we have this abnormally hot heatwave.

This is beyond a nice summer, a nice British summer day should be about 25. This level of heat in this part of the world is freakish.

Our expectations for what our normal British climate should be have been completely warped. It's been a nice, milder and drier year than the average so far and everyone's complaining about how miserable it's been because we've had one week of abnormally heavy rain at the beginning of June.

Why should there not be maximum working temperatures, in your opinion, elphaba? Just because it doesn't bother you? There are minimums which all employers are obliged to adhere to, and people are allowed to go home if the temperature drops below that. It's long been recognised that the lack of an upper limit is a discrepancy, as heat can affect productivity just as much as cold. Or are you saying that just because a teacher in Queensland doesn't have aircon, then people in the UK shouldn't be able to have it either?

"That's not hot, that's like a winter temperature for us, you Poms are so soft".

I would reply:

Poor you. I wouldn't like to live in Australia - would be my idea of hell on earth with those kinds of temperatures as a routine. Personally I love the seasons in the UK

It's just jest. The problem here is that our buildings are insulated to keep heat in! My friend is from Zimbabwe and is moaning how hot it is here, we just aren't set up for heat

^^ this might be why I don't have many friends

The UK does have crap and somewhat boring weather compared to the rest of the world.

We moved to a country with very hot summers and extremely cold winters. It took me a little while to shake off the “weather weed” stereotype

Your relative sounds tedious OP.

It bothers the hell out of me OP - I loathe the heat. The heat is probably the main reason I would never go back to Australia. I’m a bit sweaty at the moment but all it does is give me a vague, distant reminder of what it is like to live in real heat and makes me very glad that I’m only going to be damp and a bit lethargic for a very, very short period of time.

But your - how shall I put it? - mildly warm days last for...a few days. My feeble workmates have been lobbying for years to get aircon put in. It is needed for maybe...five days of the year? Six? Is that really, really worth the financial cost to the public sector plus the environmental cost, when there are people in other parts of the world coping with far less complaint for far longer? No, I really don’t think so. Drink more and be thankful that opening a window actually lets in a breeze and you’ll be past it in less than a week. The colder temperatures do tend to drag on a bit longer, hence why lower temp restrictions are probably in place.

I live in Spain and it's usually much hotter than the UK, but I saw that London might reach 38º tomorrow and that's just mental. After 20 years here in Spain I've got "used to" the heat, but even I always say that 38/39 is the threshold for it feeling really gross and unpleasant. And that's in a country that's used to it!

theres no breeze here elphaba why do you think an office in london would have a breeze coming in

I’m sorry but anyone saying OMG you don’t know what heat is - it’s 10.15 and still 35 degrees in my greenhouse like flat. Sure it may not be as hot as you’ve experienced, and sure it may not be as hot as other countries, but for THIS country it is unusual. We aren’t used to it - we are used to going on holiday where we can relax and dip in water and enjoy the air con. It’s not a normal temperature we are acclimatised to for workingX travelling in non air con, being in buildings that are like furnaces.
That doesn’t make us hilarious, or pathetic, it’s just the way it is. In the same way other countries might find 18 cold and be moaning about it and we find it pleasant. It’s just what you’re used to and what you’re set up for.

I hope the people finding it so hilarious that we can’t cope with the heat also find it amusing that elderly people die in this weather?! But obviously they don’t know they’ve been born and if only they’d experienced the temperatures other people have, they’d Just get on with it.

I may be tiled having just had this conversation with an Australian friend. Who I might add has three dyson fans in her room and still can’t sleep despite being apparently fine with this current blast of heat in the UK and telling me it doesn’t matter if you don’t have air con...

Okay rant over, I’ll just cArefully pop my soapbox over here.. actually I’m too hot to lift it

While the UK isn't extreme compared to other parts of the world the humidity exagerates temperatures, either making it sweaty and feeling like soup to breathe in hot weather, or that horrid biting cold that gets into your bones in the winter. Drier extremes are easier to tolerate.

Our infrastructure is poorly adapted to our extremes, building design, structure of the day. We expect our children to learn in stuffy, stinky 33oC portacabins with no air flow because the windows open two inches while much of the world is on holiday. In the winter, the heat is lost rapidly through the cardboard like roof and it takes half the day to warm up. Uniforms are only really for spring/ autumn with poor layering for winter or summer.

When I went travelling through Asia, after the first couple of weeks, I adjusted to the higher temperatures and humidity and it got easier. British weather while not extreme globally is too changable. Some weeks are uncomfortable games of too hot/ too cold. You learn from yesterday's mistake and the weather has changed again!

Most parts of the world are adapted to their dominant local conditions in buildings and lifestyle.

Also elphaba there’s no bloody breeze! Wouldn’t be complaining if there was, lack of breeze is the problem!

@ElphabaTheGreen is sooooo right!! I’m Australian, live in QLD. This so called ‘different’ heat some people on here claim to have is funny. Yes we know all about not being able to get dry after having a shower!! Yesterday after seeing a few heat complaining threads I checked the London weather - 38 today, yes that’s hot anywhere I totally agree!! But at 25 and complaining...come on.
Ps- I love my fence

We are abroad at the moment, in a pretty hot country and have been visiting DH's relatives today.
Explained that the temperature in London is higher than where they live, and they all shuddered. No "you think that's hot? We fry eggs on our bonnet" etc, just "oh, that must be horrendous. The buildings are so old and the tubes aren't air conditioned". They totally got it!

@AngeloMysterioso You said it well. I come from a hot country and I can't handle the heat here. But to be fair I couldn't handle the heat there either. I was the one weirdo who used to go out with an umbrella when it was sunny as sun gives me a headache.

eatdiamonds I agree, complaining at 25 is mad. I’m talking about above 30.
And I’m sure your fence is perfectly lovely

I'm Australian, and yes, 18.c is fuqking freezing! I really don't know how you could even call that spring weather, let alone summer. Sorry, but it is jumper weather. That is a cold winter's day here. It might annoy you, but that's just a fact. Summer here is often 36.c sometimes 39 or 41. It's just the way it is. In fact, the standard national temperature recommended for all airconditioners, summer or winter, is 24.c. (meaning it is the recommended default setting for comfort all year round)

It is really annoying. From both sides.

Aussies have a set up that expects heat, Brits are set up for cold. Lived in uk for years and never felt colder than an aussie winter as there's very limited central heating and you wear coats inside. So laughing at us thinking 18 is cold is exactly the same - when it never gets above 14 degrees indoors and it's draughty, it does feel cold. But then it's sunny outside so really quite pleasant. It's so unusual to be colder than 15 degrees outside so we're not prepared with coats and stuff to do like cosy pubs etc.

Similarly, hot weather in the uk is awful. There's limited air con and fans, bedrooms are upstairs so even hotter, etc. I get it.

The Aussies on your fb are being provocative and taking the piss, which is a national sport of ours (not that funny or subtle..!) - ignore them. But don't do the same when they're freezing on an 18 degree day here..

I'm looking into tiled floors and walls, shutters and fans - East Midlands. I can't wait for Autumn/Winter when we all run in, slip over and break bones.

Still it's a small price to pay!

And there's a lot of whingin here in australia if it gets hotter than 35 in summer so we can't really have it both ways 😂 your aussie fb people are probably jealous given we've just had weeks of an antarctic wind that almost blew us all away

"when they're just trying to have a whinge about being too warm?"
The thing is though, how can you actually be warm in 18.c (heater/electric blanket weather) unless you are under a couple of layers of jumpers? I'd have bed socks on and mittens. You couldn't swim in that weather either, you'd get a very bad chill or pneumonia or something. If you told me it's 18.c there, without knowing you weren't in Australia, I'd say 'you want to borrow my bar heater'?